A MOSTLY TRUE INDEX OF

ZARIFIKRAM

জারিফ ইকরাম

BUILDING THINGS FOR WORLDS THAT REFUSE TO SIT STILL

Zarif Ikram behind a white cat, both looking unconvinced
FIG. 01: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR & ACTUAL SUPERVISOR
Vincent van Gogh's 1887 self-portrait, appearing here without appointment
NOT ZARIF. REPEAT: NOT ZARIF.
DOWNLOAD_MORE_IK-RAM.EXE

DOWNLOAD MORE IK-RAM
More memory. More me. Zero evidence.

DOSSIER 00½

WHO PUT A BIOGRAPHY HERE?

I am a 1st year Annenberg PhD fellow at USC, advised by Paria Rashidinejad. I hold a B.Sc. from CSE, BUET (Class of '25).

I am a research intern at Microsoft Research AI Frontiers, NYC under John Langford and Tim Pearce.

Previously, I studied world models under Dianbo Liu at NUS and behavior modeling under Jim Whitehead at UCSC.

A tenor with the USC Thornton Concert Choir under Tram Sparks, my musical background is in Indian classical music under Asit Dey. I trained at Chhayanaut Music School and also play harmonium, guitar, and piano.

CONTACT: zarifikram003 [AT] gmail [DOT] com GITHUB SCHOLAR X YOUTUBE ANONYMOUS FEEDBACK
CRISPEDIT → ICML 2026 GIT-STORM → OUTSTANDING PAPER EGFN → TMLR GG-DWJS → AI4X ORAL THE CAT DECLINED COMMENT CRISPEDIT → ICML 2026 GIT-STORM → OUTSTANDING PAPER EGFN → TMLR GG-DWJS → AI4X ORAL THE CAT DECLINED COMMENT

MISSION STATEMENT / MISPRINT 02

I am interested in fundamental AI problems in world modeling and continual improvement.

Unfortunately, this page has neither a model nor evidence of improvement.

EVIDENCE LOCKER 01—09

RESEARCH, AFTER THE FILING CABINET EXPLODED

PAPER 08 / EVOLVE FIRST, ASK LATER
Evolution Guided Generative Flow Networks architecture

Evolution Guided Generative Flow Networks

Zarif Ikram, Ling Pan, Dianbo Liu

Transactions on Machine Learning Research, 2025
ICLR GEM Bio workshop

★ BEST POSTER @ EEML 2024

PAPER 07 / LATENT JUDICIARY
JEDI latent end-to-end diffusion architecture

JEDI: Latent End-to-end Diffusion Mitigates Agent-Human Performance Asymmetry in Model-Based Reinforcement Learning

Jing Yu Lim, Zarif Ikram, Samson Yu, Haozhe Ma, Tze-Yun Leong, Dianbo Liu

Preprint, 2025

PAPER 05 / OBJECT NOT FOUND

Small features matter: Robust representation for world models

Zarif Ikram, Miranda Anna Christ, Ling Pan, Dianbo Liu

7th Robot Learning Workshop, ICLR, 2025

PAPER 04 / PROTEIN CHOREOGRAPHY
Generated protein structure in green and orange

Gradient-guided discrete walk-jump sampling for biological sequence generation

Zarif Ikram, Dianbo Liu, M Saifur Rahman

Transactions on Machine Learning Research, 2024

★ RISE 2024 RESEARCH GRANT AWARDEE

PAPER 03 / ROUNDABOUT, PROBABILISTIC
Generative flow network procedure for constructing a roundabout

Probabilistic Generative Modeling for Procedural Roundabout Generation for Developing Countries

Zarif Ikram, Ling Pan, Dianbo Liu

NeurIPS RealML Workshop, 2023

PAPER 02 / PEDESTRIANS IN CELLS
Animated PedGrid pedestrian simulation

PedGrid — A Simple yet Expressive Simulation Environment for Pedestrian Behavior Modeling

Golam Md Muktadir, Taorui Huang, Zarif Ikram, Abdul Jawad, Jim Whitehead

IEEE ITSC, 2023

DEPARTMENT OF PREVENTABLE OBSTACLES

TWO SERVICES NOBODY REQUESTED

SERVICE A / NEGATIVE AFFORDANCE

Apply for absolutely nothing.

The committee is eager not to receive your application.

Evasions: 0
SERVICE B / PERPETUAL COMPLIANCE

Terms of Surrender

Please reach the bottom to confirm that no bottom exists.

LOADING THE NEXT OBLIGATION…

SIGNALS INTERCEPTED / SELECTED TALKS

I LOVE TO SHARE MY EXPERIENCES WITH THE AUDIENCE AND LEARN FROM THEM.

TALK № 0002

Masked Generative Priors Improve World Models Sequence Modelling Capabilities

ICLR World Models Workshop Oral, 2025

video signal / slide residue

TALK № 0001

How to Train Your World Models

Beijing Institute of Technology, 2024

slide residue

BUREAU OF ACADEMIC SERVICES

OFFICIALLY AUTHORIZED TO HAVE OPINIONS

REVIEWERICLR2024—?
REVIEWERICML2025—?
REVIEWERNeurIPS2024—?
REVIEWERTMLR2024—?

ROOM № 𝄞 / OBJECTS REHEARSING WITHOUT PERMISSION

THE UNRELIABLE ORCHESTRA

Francis Picabia's 1917 Dada work Machine Turn Quickly
MACHINE / TURN QUICKLY
Kurt Schwitters's 1922 Merz 50 collage
DATASET 50 / LABELS LOST
GIT-STORM masked generative prior diagram
MASKED PRIOR / PERCUSSION
Procedurally generated roundabout in motion
ENVIRONMENT / RONDO
Generated protein structure appearing as an improvised instrument
PROTEIN / VIBRATO

CLICK THE HEAD / DRAG THE EVIDENCE / DISTRUST THE TEMPO

ROOM 𝄞 / SOUND WITHOUT EXPLANATION

MUSIC

Selected honors

  1. Ensemble AwardUSC Thornton School of Music, 2026
  2. Lifetime Member AwardNotre Dame Cultural Club, 2020
  3. Honorable Mention AwardNotre Dame College, 2019
  4. Best Singer AwardNational Board of Education, 2016

Selected television & stage appearances

  • USC Spring Concert, Newman Recital Hall, LA (2026)
  • USC Fall Concert, Newman Recital Hall, LA — solo, I'll Be on My Way (2025)
  • Classical Music Festival, Chhayanaut Auditorium, Dhaka (2022–2024)
  • গানের ঝরণা তলায়, Bengal Foundation (2020)
  • নজরুল সঙ্গীত উৎসব, National Museum Auditorium (2019)
  • Cultural Ceremony for the Pope's visit, Notre Dame College, Dhaka (2017)
  • নজরুল সঙ্গীত উৎসব, Chhayanaut Auditorium, Dhaka (2013–2020)
  • গানে গানে সকাল শুরু, Channel I (2015)

THIS IS THE EMPTY SECTION YOU REQUESTED.

Hover over the vacancy. It has been rehearsing.